WORKERS at Unilever are heading towards another day of strike action as a bitter row over pensions rumbles on.

Shop stewards representing the workforce at Port Sunlight, in Wirral, and also Warrington, will attend a national joint union delegate conference on January 7 next year to consider whether they should repeat the national strike action which took place at 11 Unilever sites across the UK.

Workers went on strike for the first time in the company’s history on December 9.

The meeting will discuss what response management has had to that action and to consider fixing further dates for strike action.

The row with Unilever – a global giant whose products include Flora, Persil, Marmite and Dove – is over its plans to scrap the UK final salary pension scheme for its 7,000-strong workforce and move them over to a scheme based on career average earnings.

Feelings between Merseyside workers and the company were further soured when they had Christmas parties scrapped and festive food hampers taken off them in the aftermath of the 24-hour walk-out.

George Patterson, Warrington organiser for the GMB union, based in the North West, said he believed further strike action was almost a certainty.

He said: “I think there’s a 99.9% chance that we could go out.

“At this moment, Unilever have taken a stance that their intention is to change the terms of the scheme.

“There have been ongoing negotiations and the company has had every opportunity to retract what their intentions are.

“The company has made its decision and it’s a stand-off.”

He said strike action was not a decision that workers took lightly, but the union believes the company could afford the final salary scheme and the alternative left workers with a worse deal.

A Unilever spokesman said last night that the firm had not received any notification of further plans for action.